Reviews

The screening of this Indian film I saw was not the final cut and didn't have the final soundtrack, nor did it feature any background noise. Saying then that this is a review of the film is not 100% correct, but I'll give you an impression of what I did see. Hovering in a genre caught between traditional Bollywood and cinema as we know it in the West, Metro tries to appeal to a wide audience. The trouble is I can imagine it alienating Indian viewers with it's discussion of sex and lust, infidelity and corruption- while repelling western audiences because most of this serious film is laughable. It's not unknown that Bollywood and Hollywood have different ideas about what makes a good film, so at any of the many many points in the film when the three-man band come into shot and start wailing while the foreground displays a montage of characters' situations it becomes ever harder to take the film seriously. So much so that it was excruciating for occupants of the screening room to try to quell our laughter. Shilpa Shetty is this film's most well known actor outside of India, but her acting here doesn't support the fame she found through Celebrity Big Brother, and of the rest of the cast, only Sharman Joshi puts in a notable performance. Anurag Basu certainly doesn't lack ambition (this is the first Indian film to achieve a Leicester Square premier, even if it is on a Tuesday evening while the cinema is being refurbished and without any movie posters) but I have an inkling that the film will be lost on non-Asian audiences.

When I saw this game advertised I had to have it. I am a huge fan of all three films, the music and the novels. The way the game is presented, the packaging, the marketing and the hype point to this being the game we Godfather fans have been waiting for, but for me at least this was not the case.

From the outset the game reminds the player of Grand Theft Auto III and later GTA titles. This would not be a bad thing, as they are some of the best selling games of all time, what is a bad thing is that the graphics and the movement (on the PS2 at least) feel more like GTA III than the year old San Andreas.

The story that runs through the game starts well with reenactments of the movie and big star voices matched to well rendered characters. The player missions do not fail to entertain, but if you fail them a few times the game fails to entice you to try again and again in the way that GTA does. The most boring part of the game is the neighbourhood consolidation missions. These are highly repetitive and time consuming.

The controls of the game are also a let down to any fan of the GTA franchise. It would seem that in a move to distance this game from GTA the new 'blackhand' control setup has been created. Trying to learn this new setup after years of GTA play left me frustrated playing the early stages of the game. Worse than this, however, is the driving model. The cars are mindlessly unrealistic in their reaction to the controls and driving in a straight line is as much a challenge as knocking over a tailors. (More likely to accidentally knock it over in a car) Fans of the Coppola and Rota expecting great use of 'that' music will also be disappointed. Yes the themes are used but only when driving, and mixed with what sounds like dodgy 80s synth.

All in all I'd recommend fans of the Godfather to play The Godfather soundtrack whilst playing Mafia to avoid disappointment.